


Dance Committee

by gay_possum_god



Category: Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Genre: (oh my god they were roomates), Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Coalition, Committees, F/F, Fake Dating, Friends to Lovers, Gay Male Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, M/M, Plotting, Scheming, School Dance, all the usual shenanigans, and they were roomates, these are guesses as to who and what will be in this because it's not done yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2020-02-27 00:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18728149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_possum_god/pseuds/gay_possum_god
Summary: As the Macdonald Hall-Scrimmage's gang's senior year winter formal approaches, they realize there is an inter-school rule that boys can only take girls, and vice versa. Luckily, Bruno and Cathy have a lot of experience forming committees.





	1. 1

Boots can’t sleep. It’s an hour past curfew and Bruno’s nowhere to be seen. That can only mean one thing: a plan, a committee, and a lot of trouble.

Boots is most frightened by the fact that he doesn’t know what’s going on. After seven years as roommates and best friends, he is usually the first one Bruno tells about his plans. He also can usually talk Bruno out of doing anything really wild.

Most of the time.

There were a few notable exceptions involving fireworks, matchmaking and a few hundred squirrels.

In fact, when Bruno didn’t immediately tell Boots what was going on, that usually meant it was because it was incredibly stupid and dangerous and he knew Boots would try to stop him.

Boots was just beginning to wonder if he should call the police or skip straight to the CSIS, when the window slid open and Bruno clambered in and landed with a loud thud on the floor two hours past curfew.

“Where were you?” Boots whisper shouted, just loud enough to show his anger, but just quiet enough not to alert Coach Flynn they were awake.

“Scrimmage’s,” Bruno replied with a frustrating lack of explanation.

“Why?” prompted Boots, highly suspicious, and slightly miffed about being left out. Sneaking over to Scrimmage’s was an activity that they had historically done together.

“Talking to Cathy,” Bruno said, nonchalantly as if sneaking over to Scrimmage’s without Boots was something that happened every day.

Bruno was apparently too tired to keep the conversation going further, because he just threw off his shoes and didn’t even bother changing into his pajamas before climbing into his bed on the other side of their shared dorm.

Boots stayed up for a while longer, trying to think of what Cathy and Bruno could be plotting on their own, but in the end he drew a blank.

Boots didn’t consider himself to be as creative as Bruno, and he was sure what whatever it was that Cathy and Bruno had been meeting about, it was far more fiendish than anything he could come up with.

Eventually, Boots resolved to go to sleep and ask around in the morning.


	2. 2

This time, Boots was the one with a mission.

He normally allowed Bruno to keep his secrets, but Boots felt notably suspicious about whatever was going on over at Scrimmage’s. He also felt bitter at being omitted, but he wouldn’t admit that.

Boots decided that the best way to find out what Bruno was up to was to ask the usual committee members what they knew. He decided to start with Bruno’s ex-roommate, Elmer Drimsdale.

“Elmer!” Boots called, knocking on his door over in Dormitory 2.

“It’s unlocked!” came a call from deep within the room.

Boots opened the door cautiously and found the room full of plants. Elmer was holding a pitcher, bent over a cactus near the back of the room.

“Elmer! I have a problem.”

“What is it this time?” Elmer said suspiciously, well familiar with Bruno and Boots’ usual activities.

“I don’t know.” This caught Elmer’s attention and finally got him to look up from his cactus.

“What do you mean you ‘don’t know’?”

“Bruno’s up to something, and I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Elmer’s eyes widened with alarm. “He’s going solo!” Elmer didn’t like when Bruno and Boots were up to something together, but he liked it even less when Bruno was up to something by himself.

“No, he’s up to something with other people, but just not with me.”

Elmer scrunched his eyebrows up in confusion. “Which ‘other people’ would Bruno be plotting with?”

“Well last night I caught him coming back from Scrimmages without me. And we always visit Cathy—”

“Ah, Cathy,” Elmer said, his confusion disappearing.

“What do you mean ‘Ah, Cathy’?”

“Well,” Elmer started, beginning to blush. “Bruno and Cathy always have seemed quite fond of each other.”

“But I’m his best friend!”

“Yes,” Elmer said, blushing even harder now, “but I suspect Bruno is closer to Cathy in other ways.”

When he saw that Boots still didn’t understand, Elmer, almost the color of the dining hall cooked tomatoes, added “More, erm, physical ways.”

“Oh,” said Boots, beginning to understand what Elmer was saying. “OH! You don’t really think they’re dating? And Bruno didn’t tell me!”

Elmer shrugged, clearly embarrassed to be talking about it at all. “I’m sorry Boots, but that does seem to be what the evidence suggests.”

“Oh. Okay,” Boots said, and began to pick his way through the rows of potted plants towards the door. “Thank you Elmer.”

“You’re welcome Boots.”

Boots then traveled down several doors to Mark Davies room and knocked on his door. Mark was in the middle of deadline week for the next issue of the school newspaper, but he was willing to listen to Boots’s problem.

Once Boots was done, Mark said, “It sounds to me like Bruno and Cathy have finally gotten together.”

“What do you mean ‘finally’!”

“Well, they have been pretty close for a long time.”

“Yeah, so have Bruno and I.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. Boots left.

Perry Elbert and the rest of Dormitory 2 all seemed to have the same idea as Mark and Elmer. In Dormitory 1, Wilber Hackenscleimer didn’t even finish listening to Boots’ story before telling him to send his congratulations to Bruno on finally getting a girlfriend, Chris Talbot told Boots he should start knocking before entering his dorm just in case Bruno decided to invite Cathy over and even George Wexford-Smyth III seemed to agree that most likely Bruno was dating Cathy.

Boots hadn’t seen the entire school agree on anything so thoroughly since Mr. Wizzle had been there. By the end of the day he just had to accept that there were some things at the school, and with Bruno, that he just didn’t understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to anyone who got the reference to another Gordon Korman book.


	3. Chapter 3

At the next school meeting, there was one announcement that got slightly more attention than all the rest. There was going to be a dance (a “Spring Fling” to be specific) held over at Scrimmage’s, and all high schoolers were invited.

“Please remember,” Mr. Sturgeon shouted over the whispered conversations (more of which had to do with the announcement than usual), “while taking a female date is permitted, she must be from Scrimmages, and she must actually want to go with you, and not have been forced, pressured, or annoyed into it in any way.” As he said this, Mr. Sturgeon looked right at Bruno.

_Ironically _, Bruno thought, _that may be the one thing he doesn’t have to worry about. _____

___The rest of the reminders involved the usual reminders that having knives in the cafeteria is a privilege, not a right; curfew is at 9:00 sharp; and all Macdonald Hall sports teams could always use more players, so please try out if you have any interest._ _ _

* * *

___“Can you believe we’re actually gonna have a spring dance this year?” Wilbur asked during lunch between sandwiches._ _ _

___“You would have known since yesterday if you read the school paper,” Mark said._ _ _

___“I’m worried about the dancing,” Sidney, and the boys flinched, remembering the last time Sidney had tried to dance at Scrimmage’s._ _ _

___“I’m more worried about asking people to dance,” said Elmer, who instead of gaining confidence as he got older, instead just became more open in his lack of confidence._ _ _

___“Luckily, Bruno won’t need to worry about that!” said Myron, who wasn’t even sitting at their table, but just happened to be passing by and overheard the last bit._ _ _

___“What does that even mean, Myron?” Bruno asked._ _ _

___“Boots knows,” Myron said, walking away._ _ _

___Bruno looked at Boots who, along with the rest of the table, was avoiding eye contact with him._ _ _

____Oh, god, _Bruno thought, _they know. Somehow, they all know. ______ _ _

_______“Well,” Boots said, still not meeting his eye, “it’s just that you’ve been spending some one-on-one time with Cathy lately, and…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“We had already known,” Wilbur added in an attempt to improve relations._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Bruno was almost too relieved to care. Almost._ _ _ _ _ _ _

* * *

_______Bruno picked up a wood chip and tossed it at Cathy and Diane’s window. Like two of the last eight, it hit with a dull “tink.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______This time, the window flew open as though someone had been waiting on the inside to make sure they hadn’t imagined the other two._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Where’s Boots?” Diane called down to him._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“I’ll explain when I’m up,” Bruno called back and started climbing the tree next to the girls’ window. They were lucky for the tree this semester. Last semester, Cathy and Diane had gotten a room on the second floor with no tree or drainage pipe nearby, so they had to sneak out to the garden, and they had had quite a few very close scrapes with the shotgun._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Where’s Boots?” Diane demanded again, as Bruno crashed gracefully through their window._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“It’s just me tonight; I need to speak with Cathy.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Diane frowned. “And where am I supposed to go? It’s my room too!” Bruno felt bad for kicking her out of her room as often as he did, but this was important._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Don’t worry, we’ll hide in the bathroom,” Cathy answered, pulling Bruno into the bathroom after her, and locking the door. Then she stuffed a towel into the crash under the door, and turned on the tap. If Boots or Diane were there they would point out that it was a waste of water, but Bruno and Cathy were both the kind of people to take any idea to its logical extreme._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Cathy sat on the counter, leaving Bruno sitting on the edge of the bathtub and looking up at her. “What’s happened?” she asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Have you guys had the announcement about the dance yet?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Of course! We’re hosting.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Well we’re allowed to have female dates.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Ah, yes. We’re allowed to have male dates.” They both sat in silence for a few minutes._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“Also, apparently everyone at Macdonald Hall thinks we’re dating. Even boots.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Cathy sighed. “I suspect that’s also what Diane’s starting to think.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“It’s not that I even particularly want to take a guy—well, no that’s a lie. It’s not that I think I would anyway. I feel like with what might be our last joined dance… I dunno.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“I feel that way too. We’re graduating anyway, might as well go out with a bang!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“You think I should start one last committee?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______“I think we should start one last coalition.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who finally got his shit together and wrote another chapter after *checks calendar* almost a year. Also, I went back and did spelling and grammar checks on the first two chapters and changed them from Juniors to Seniors (if that's even what it's called in Canada). Hopefully now I'll be on some sort of a regularish update schedule, but we'll see.


	4. Chapter 4

“Psst... Boots! Wake up!”

Boots groaned. He had slept very badly last night. He felt so tired he might as well have only gotten two hours of sleep.

“Boots!” This time, Bruno also nudged him.

Boots cracked his eyes open. It was still dark out. He looked over at the digital alarm clock that Bruno had insisted on when they were in ninth grade, groaned, and closed his eyes again.

“Bruno, it’s midnight!”

“Yes, but this is _important_.”

“What could possibly be _important_ at midnight?”

“Cathy and I have formed one last coalition.”

Boots tried not to focus on the fact that during Bruno’s earlier absence, he had been over at Scrimmage’s without Boots.

“I highly doubt this will be your last one.”

“It could be,” Bruno said defensively. “We’re in twelfth grade. It’s spring. When will we have time to form another one?”

“Later in the spring, over the summer, in the future when you keep in contact or once you’ve succeeded in annexing the United St—”

“But that’s not important,” Bruno interrupted. “The important part is that we are forming a coalition and the coalition is important.”

“How so,” by now, Boots had resigned to the fact that he would be staying up keeping Bruno company, so he sat up and faced him just in time to see Bruno’s facade of nonchalance drop for the first time in a while.

“Well… it’s important to us,” Bruno said very carefully, with an expression that Boots almost did not recognise because he didn’t think that he had ever seen Bruno look frightened before.

“How so,” Boots asked again, now genuinely intrigued.

“Well, you see… There’s something that I want to tell you, and…” Bruno trailed off, trying to find words, and failing not unlike Thor glued to the floor. He stared off into space for a few seconds.

“What?” Boots prompted.

“Huh?”

“What did you want to tell me?”

“Oh, right. Well, do you remember the announcement about the dance?”

“Of course.”

“And what they said about dates?”

“That we could bring them.”

“Yes, but they had to be from Scrimmage’s,” Bruno seemed to want Boots to have some takeaway from this, but he could not see what it could be.

“Of course. It would be rude to show up with a girl from another school. Besides, what are you worried about. You have Cathy.” The last sentence came out slightly more bitter than Boots meant it to.

“That’s the thing,” Bruno said, letting out a slow breath and looking up at the ceiling to avoid eye contact. “Cathy and I aren’t actually dating.”

“Oh.”

“And there’s a reason we’re not dating.” There was another long silence, but this time gave Boots the time he needed. “We’re not dating because we’re both gay.”

Boots felt his stomach drop out of his body. He could not have been more surprised if Bruno had announced that he was illegally smuggling beavers out of the country. (In fact he probably would have been less surprised.)

* * *

Just across the road at Scrimmage’s Finishing School for Girls (the sign had been replaced just last summer, so it no longer read fishing school) a similar scene was taking place.

“Diane, I haven’t been dating Bruno.”

“I didn’t think you were, I just want to know what you’re doing that I’m not allowed to be a part of!”

“Well, that has to do with the reason we’re not dating.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. People have reasons for dating, not for not dating.”

“Diane—”

“Though, I suppose with you two I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Diane, can you just let me finish?” Cathy took Diane’s sudden silence as an affirmation. “The reason we’re not dating is that we’re both gay.”

Diane’s face grew very serious for a moment.

“Wait,” she said, wearing a familiar look that Cathy recognised as meaning she hoped Cathy was joking but feared she wasn’t, “before now… you weren’t out?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is just weird, most of the time it probably won't update every day.

**Author's Note:**

> Seven chapters is a rough guess and may change as I continue writing and get a better idea of the flow. Hopefully this will update roughly once a week if I can get my shit together.


End file.
